Characters from the manga Kurohime. Per wiki policy, trope names are not in spoilers, and there may be spoilers for characters' individual plotlines in their summaries. Read at your own risk.

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Main Characters

Kurohime/Himeko

The most powerful witch of all time. Well-known for her power, beauty and cruelty, she emerged during a thousand-year era of war to be the sole person capable of meeting the challenge of the gods to become a god herself. However, she disappeared once the tower to reach the gods was complete, only for a young girl named Himeko to appear 10 years later, claiming to be Kurohime under a curse from the gods that removed her ability to love and sealed away her power.

Tropes that apply to both her cursed and un-cursed selves:

Action Girl: Zig-zagged a bit: Kurohime is more than a capable combatant, but as Himeko, she is initially completely powerless and quite useless to boot. As Himeko gains more power, she demonstrates a marked increase in self-reliance; by the end of the story, she's capable of fighting Yashahime almost toe-to-toe without her power as Kurohime.
Attack Reflector: The Black God Tree bound to her; its branches ward off offensive magic directed at her.
Broken Bird: The original Kurohime's backstory isn't elaborated on, but it's implied that she was orphaned as a result of the wars and saw her fair share of bloodshed and killing as she grew up. After that, to amass the power to meet the gods and kill them, she killed a lot of people and ate their souls for strength, then ultimately betrayed her most loyal followers and the rest of the world in order to shift focus away from the contest of the gods. By the time Ouka and Sword meet Kurohime in the Past Arc, she hasn't yet begun her final push toward reaching and killing the gods, but is otherwise weighed down by the lives she's taken and the monstrous things she's done. Even after being reincarnated as Himeko, events like the deaths of Zero and other people close to her clearly leave their mark.
Cute Witch: In her younger Himeko forms, she's very much this.
Fashionable Asymmetry: Most of her outfits lean towards this, primarily through accessories.
The Gunslinger: Part and parcel of being a witch in this setting—any magic that isn't performed by the spirits is usually done through guns and magical bullets.
Gun And Sword: In some of her fights, she'll wield the Black God Tree in the shape of a sword while also using Senryuu.
Hand Cannon: Senryuu, her magic gun of choice, can fire both normal and magical bullets with extreme power and force.
Healing Shiv: She has access to a healing bullet and often uses it in her battles.
Hot Witch: She has repeatedly been called the most beautiful witch in the world. Himeko averts this at first, but it shows whenever she transforms into Kurohime.
Icy Blue Eyes: Fitting her cold, analytical personality, as well as her ruthless focus.
Jerkass: She's arrogant, cold, and merciless, especially to her opponents. For the original Kurohime, this turns out to be a Jerkass Façade.
Lady of Black Magic: She moves and dresses elegantly, and has an obscene amount of power to boot.
Lady of War: Onimaru described her best: "A flower which bloomed in the middle of the battlefield."
Meaningful Appearance: She has two moles, one under the outside corner of each eye. In keeping with the tragic life that this implies in most Japanese media, Kurohime has suffered immensely in her lifetime, growing up alone in a war-torn era that probably resulted in the deaths of everyone close to her as a child, and enduring great physical and emotional anguish to achieve her goals, only to fail miserably at the end of her first life and get split apart and effectively reincarnated against her will. As Himeko, this trend continues: she falls in love with Zero despite her curse and is only able to admit her love for him shortly before he dies, then loses most of her memories of him. She is later forced to kill one of her closest allies, realizes that she abandoned Zero twice at the lowest points of his life, and nearly dies for good trying to save Zero from the worst parts of himself.
Meaningful Name: Black Princess, fitting her dark aesthetic and cold nature.
Ms. Fanservice: She dresses to accentuate her good looks and body 24-7-365.
Navel-Deep Neckline: Quite a few of the outfits she wears over the course of the manga have plunging necklines that exposes a good bit of her chest and midriff.
Nay-Theist: She knows the gods exist, and is all too happy to remind them that they're not immortal by violently tearing them apart.
Spy Catsuit: Her iconic outfit, a black body-stocking with heels and a number of red and silver decorations.
Statuesque Stunner: She towers over most men and women even when she's not in heels.

Tropes that apply to pre-curse Kurohime:

Byronic Hero: She fits this mold perfectly: she's amazingly charismatic and powerful, but also extremely standoffish and distant from people most of the time. While she can be quite compassionate, she rarely shows it to other people and staunchly refuses to compromise on her goals or her means to achieving them, no matter how much suffering it causes to herself or others. This ultimately leads to her death.
Clothing Damage: In her fight against Ouka, she loses a good chunk of her outfit. It doesn't bother her a bit.
Dark Action Girl: By her own admission, she's "a witch right out of a fairy tale," and won't hesitate to get her hands dirty to kill her opponents.
Dark Is Not Evil: She's earned her bad reputation, but a lot of what she's done is focused on trying to free humanity from the yoke of the gods and get her vengeance on them for what they've done to her and to others.
Death of Personality: When she is split into her hatred and her compassion, the original Kurohime effectively dies right then and there, as both halves are missing too much of the other to really represent the whole woman anymore and never reunite.
Death Seeker: She's more than happy to die for all she's done after she's accomplished her mission. This is part of why Sword and Ouka gradually lose interest in taking revenge against her.
Godhood Seeker: Initially thought to be her goal. It's not, at least not in the way that people think it is, but it happens anyway.
Handicapped Badass: While the arm she lost DID grow back after the battle, losing it didn't slow her down in the least.
Hidden Heart of Gold: Her real personality is much more subdued and less cruel than her reputation suggests. When her backstory is revealed by Shirohime, it becomes evident that while she was ruthless, she still had enough compassion for the very young and for war victims: she allows a young Ouka to stab her and leave without repercussion, and mourns a baby that dies during the construction of her tower to heaven. When Ouka tells Kurohime about the future and explains how her own future self, as Himeko, fell in love with Zero, Kurohime takes it seriously enough that she rescues, renames, and gives a bit of maternal comfort to a nearly suicidal Rei when she realizes he's actually the Zero that Himeko will come to fall in love with.
Orphan's Ordeal: Very heavily implied in her backstory, though not outright stated; the first time we see a young Kurohime, she is wet-eyed in front of covered-up bodies, and her parents are nowhere to be seen.
Powered by a Forsaken Child: The Black God Tree bound to her. It feeds on the rage and hatred of the people she's killed; her guilt over taking their lives and her need to make their deaths worth something is her primary motivation to fight next to her desire for revenge against the gods.
Rage Against the Heavens: She cites the gods' cruelty as the primary reason that she's fighting to become one—so that she can kill all of them.
Stealth Mentor: She acts as one to Ouka in the Past Arc, albeit indirectly—by taking Ouka along with her into her battles and letting Ouka witness the price and the pain Kurohime goes through to fight, Kurohime basically proves to Ouka that chasing vengeance will only turn Ouka into another Kurohime.
Stripperiffic: The outfit she initially attacks Ouka's father's castle in, which can be described, among other things, as "Battle-Geisha-Stripper". Includes Navel-Deep Neckline, Giant Poofy Sleeves, Kimono Fanservice, Showgirl Skirt, Sideboob, Underboobs, and more.
Utopia Justifies the Means: She will do whatever it takes to free humanity from the gods, even if it means she's got to kill people and eat their souls in the process.
Would Not Hurt A Child: Her refusal to hurt young!Ouka when Ouka stabs her, her tears for an infant mortality during the building of her tower, deliberately taking the blame for Ouka's father dying in both the original and altered timelines, and the way she treats a young, abandoned Rei all indicate that Kurohime thinks of children as precious. This is unfortunately used against her when Darkray takes that infant's soul as a human shield during their battle 10 years before the start of the series, which allows him to get in a fatal attack with Sword.
Zero-Approval Gambit: Develops her cold and cruel outward personality so that humanity would focus on her, rather than continuing the fight to attain godhood.

Tropes that apply to post-curse Kurohime/Himeko:

All Love Is Unrequited: She's heartbroken that her abandonment of Zero in the Past Arc has resulted in him spurning her love. With a little help from Sword, Onimaru reminds her that if she cares about him, then she needs to save him, and that's all that matters.
Back from the Dead: Happens to her a few times. The first time is involuntary, as Kandata reverses time so that she can try to save Zero and Rei after Rei becomes a Death God. The second time, it's a side effect of Asura's scheme to complete the Ultimate Sword, as Seiryuu's time reversal prevents the event that got Kurohime killed. The third and final time occurs after Kurohime commits suicide in Zero's arms, but she comes back as a Black God Tree skeleton until she's properly revived by Yamatohime.
Becoming the Mask: The original Kurohime was cruel and cold, but more compassionate than outward appearances suggested. Himeko, lacking all of the positive aspects of her original's personality, is (initially) exactly the person that the original Kurohime pretended to be.
Berserk Button: Do not mess with Zero, or even insult him. Even as the brattier, younger Himeko, she's more than capable of tearing you a new asshole for it.
Big Eater: She loves to eat, even as she grows older. Food is the quickest way to earn her good favor.
Black Magician Girl: Bratty and snide, much like the trope requires, but lacking the power to back it up initially. As she gets stronger, she resembles the trope much better in power level, if not personality.
Boyish Short Hair: In her first two cursed forms, in contrast to the long hair of her un-cursed self.
Bratty Half-Pint: Her defining personality trait for the first arc of the manga; she's rude, demanding, and selfish.
Breast Expansion: As she regains more of her power, her bust size increases. Justified, because she's actually physically aging, too.
Came Back Strong: Yamatohime sacrifices her life to revive Kurohime after Kurohime commits suicide to prove her love to Zero, and even with what little power Yamatohime has left, it's so potent that Kurohime permanently retakes her adult form AND purifies the Black God Tree into a White God Tree, allowing it to revive all the people whose souls she'd trapped in it.
Came Back Wrong: She lets herself dissolve in the Sanzu River during the last chapter to prove that she truly loves Rei, but when she does so her Black God Tree eats her soul and turns her into a gnarled, wood-shaped skeleton for one last attack against Yashahime and quickly starts to crumble after that.
Character Development: Hints of it start to show up when Zero shoots himself to appease a couple of angry ghosts—she transforms into her un-cursed form, punches him in the face, and cries a little as she tells him off for needlessly harming himself (though she frames it as him needing her permission to die). Shortly after that, she realizes that she really and truly does love Zero, because he refused to abandon her even at her worst, which gives her the power to break the curse herself. Zero's death in front of her very eyes only continues this, as it forces her to become self-reliant and actively seek her own way back into power to revive him. These events lead to her developing an upbeat, hotblooded, and kind personality that's the literal opposite of her earlier Bratty Half-Pint behavior and markedly different from the original Kurohime's dour, reserved nature.
Cute Bruiser: When she finally gets enough of her powers back, she maintains a cuter and lighter personality than she did before her curse, but is no less capable of handing her enemies a beatdown if they get in her way, with her bare hands if need be via the Hulk Bullet.
Cruel and Unusual Death: She suffers one to try and get Dark Zero back to normal, dissolving herself in the waters of the Sanzu River to prove that she meant it when she said she wouldn't mind dying in his arms.
Earn Your Happy Ending: Though it comes at the expense of the planet and Yamatohime, Kurohime eventually manages to save Zero, kill Yashahime, and even resurrect all the souls that her Black God Tree had devoured.
Fusion Dance: Does this occasionally to avoid losing her last memories of Zero after he forcibly removed them from her as Dark Zero.
Guile Hero: Though she's definitely physically capable, she often uses misdirection and double bluffs with her bullets to get one over on her enemies.
The Hero: Though it starts as a secondary role, she moves to primary hero after Zero dies.
I Have Many Names: She's generally just called "Hime" as a nickname, but is known as Himeko (initial cursed form), Momohime (second cursed form, during the Yamato Arc), and Himekojo (third cursed form, during the Past Arc). Generally speaking she asserts that her true identity is Kurohime unless she has a reason to hide her identity.
Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Darkray, Yashahime, and Dark Zero have all done this to her to try and kill her, to little success.
Infinity +1 Sword: The Ultimate Sword, which retains Senryuu's gun functions in the form of a giant fuck-off laser in addition to being a huge laser sword that can cut through planets.
I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: With Onimaru and Sword's help, she realizes the situation with Zero stopped being about whether or not he returned her love a long time ago. What matters is that he gets turned back to normal.
Lack of Empathy: Having her ability to love cursed out of her and being the incarnation of one person's single-minded hatred for gods has completely screwed her up emotionally. Traveling with Zero eventually helps her regain her compassion, and by the end of the manga she's become a kind-hearted young woman.
Laser-Guided Amnesia: In the first arc, as a result of losing her ability to love, she can't recall just why she hates the gods. It doesn't help that she's only half of the original Kurohime, either; Shirohime kept all their original memories. Later on, Zero's death forms a psychological block on her full power: though she no longer needs to feel love to transform into Kurohime, doing so erases memories of him in order to "heal the wound" in her heart caused by his death, which only gets worse the longer she holds onto the transformation. Dark Zero then removes the majority of her memories himself after his revival; after that incident, pretty much all of the memories she's made from the start of the series involving him are outright gone, leaving only a strong love for Zero.
Laser-Guided Karma: A metric-fuck-ton of it from her pre-curse life. Her original self killed countless people in her quest to become a god, and the price was losing her power, being forced into a child's body, and being stripped of her memories on top of losing her ability to love AND half her personality to boot. Worse yet, not long after fully realizing love after being self-absorbed for so long, the man she loves sacrifices himself to protect her and dies right before her eyes.
Love Epiphany: She has one near the end of the first arc when she realizes that no matter how badly she's treated him, Zero has always stood by her side to defend him, and that she's actually hurt by the idea of him falling in love with anyone else. Not only does she break the curse without needing Zero to do something self-sacrificing for her, she shares a First Kiss with him, while confessing her love for him.
Love Redeems: Re-discovering love ultimately made her a better person. Of course, love's path is never straight, and suffering also tends to bring out the Character Development.
Manipulative Bitch: She tends to play this heavily in the first arc, continually manipulating Zero into doing what she wants by playing on his feelings for her. Dark Zero eventually calls on her this with regard to the Past Arc: he feels as if she used him primarily because she essentially abandoned him twice (albeit against her will) after spending so much time convincing him that she really loved him (which she does, and did back then too).
Meaningful Name: Himeko means "young princess" or "child princess". Her second alias, Momohime, is a play off of Momotarō the Peach Boy, since she arrived in a village via a peach on the river. Her third, Himekojou, basically just means "Miss Himeko", but the "jou" is often used to refer to teenage girls, fitting her apparent age at the time.
Nay-Theist: Though she doesn't quite remember what happened to get her cursed, Kurohime still hates the gods with a passion. When she gets a chance to fight one in her un-cursed form, she beats him to death with her bare hands, laughing and grinning as she rips him apart. This is due to being the original Kurohime's personified hatred of gods and instinctively remembering that even with her memories gone.
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Two major examples:
- By attempting to support and protect both Zero and his brother Rei during the Past Arc, she inadvertently winds up causing the real Zero's death and breaks Rei's heart.
- Her decision to avoid killing Asura to complete the Ultimate Sword results in her own death. Asura has to convince Seiryuu to rewind time to undo the mistake.
Plucky Girl: As she matures, she grows out of her bratty behavior and refuses to let anything keep her down for long.
Power at a Price: After killing Darkray and losing Zero, the only way for her to use her full power as Kurohime is to give up memories of Zero, since his death is a psychological block on her power. The longer she stays transformed, the more memories of him she loses to fuel her transformation; once Dark Zero removes almost all her memories himself, this boosts her power tremendously but also locks her out of becoming Kurohime again (at least, by herself) until the very end of the manga.
The Power of Love: The only way to even temporarily break the curse, and what ultimately breaks it permanently at the climax of the first arc, when she fully accepts that she does love Zero. Also, she only agrees to help Asura and free Yamatohime if, and only if, Yamatohime resurrects Zero.
Shoot the Dog: Despite not wanting to, she ultimately ends the world by using the Ultimate Sword to split it in half, with Yashahime still bound to it.
Sleep-Mode Size: Curses tend to do this to her since she wasn't as powerful as a child.
Small Girl, Big Gun: As the smallest Himeko, Senryuu's size as compared to her body.
Took a Level in Badass: The stronger her magic gets, the more capable she becomes of handling her own problems.

Zero

A good-hearted young man with fast hands and a strong sense of idealism and justice. Kurohime saved his life as a child, and he dedicated himself to fighting for justice afterwards; he meets Himeko being chased by Onimaru, and upon breaking her curse (temporarily) for the first time, he devotes himself to staying by her side.

Badass Normal: Keeps abreast of Kurohime thanks to his incredibly itchy trigger fingers; he is capable of drawing and firing his four guns both rapidly and accurately.
Dead Person Impersonation: The Zero introduced at the start of the story is actually named "Rei", and he's been using his younger brother Zero's name for the entirety of the manga that he's been a main character, due to intense regret over how his own actions resulted in the real Zero's death.
Determinator: He will put it all on the line to protect Himeko. No matter what.
Driven to Suicide: Upon realizing that Himeko truly loves him, Zero tries to commit suicide, but being an immortal Death God puts a pretty big wrench into that plan.
Earn Your Happy Ending: He lives, Hime lives, they manage to make it to a new planet so that the human race ultimately survives and some billion years later, they meet up again and fall in love a second time.
Floating Limbs:As the Death God, his hands detach from his body.
Gender Bender: Was reincarnated as a woman on the new planet millions of years after the end of the manga.
Guns Akimbo: He shoots four guns, not two, and does so rapidly. Even as a kid, he had this ability, and Rei, upon taking Zero's identity, develops this skill to a similar level.
The Gunslinger: An even better shot than Kurohime, considering that he can accurately aim and fire four guns nearly simultaneously.
Face–Heel Turn: When Yashahime transforms him into the Death God, he gains knowledge of the gods' life cycle and humans' part in it. He becomes so frustrated and disgusted over the fact that the same cruel humans that ruined his life also exist to help gods eat planets that he decides to destroy the world ahead of time.
Heel–Face Turn: Himeko's suicide to reach out to him him in chapter 79 makes him realize that she really did love him, and his anguish causes him to abandon his desire for vengeance and reject the Death God's power entirely.
Heroic BSoD: He began showing signs of it in chapter 76, as Himeko continues to fight to convince him that her love is sincere. It finally hits in 79 after she dies trying to convince him of his worth to her.
Heroic Sacrifice: Makes one to get Himeko out of the Sanzu River, pushing her to shore as the waters boil him down to his skeleton. His past self makes another one to save his older brother Rei, permanently damning his soul—except, as it turns out, the Zero the readers have known for all this time is actually Rei, pretending to be his younger brother.
Hidden Depths: He harbors intense guilt and self-loathing over his part in the real Zero's death, and carried a permanent taint from nearly becoming a Death God as a child.
Iconic Item: His blue scarf, to the point that Himeko refuses to let it go until he revives as Dark Zero and steals it from her.
Justice Will Prevail: His primary motivation, to the degree of believing that guns are a tool of justice.
Kid with the Leash: Keeps the smallest Himeko from being an even bigger Jerkass.
Knight in Shining Armor: What he aspires to, and demonstrates pretty clearly. This is somewhat of a front, as his real personality is worn-down and self-loathing.
Likes Older Women: He makes no effort to hide that he sincerely loves Kurohime, far beyond just respecting her.
Love Hurts: Oh yes. All of his pain and suffering can be traced to either love of his family or love of Kurohime.
Meaningful Appearance: His hair is mostly blue with a few streaks of black in his front bangs. After the Death God is purged from Rei, the black strands coming in and giving him the appearance of the younger Zero introduced in the first chapter is the proof that "Zero" was Rei all along.
Love Redeems: After Himeko willingly commits suicide in his arms, he is able to believe in love again, and rejects the powers of the Death God entirely.
Meaningful Name: "Zero" can be written as "Rei" in Japanese, hinting at his true identity the moment Himeko meets them both in the Past Arc. This is the same logic that past!Kurohime uses to rename him when they meet.
Morality Pet: Post-mortem especially. Himeko's not a complete jerk anymore but she wouldn't do many things if not for his sake or to respect his memory.
My Hero, Zero: It's literally his name, and he's one of the central characters of the series, with talent belying his young age to match. This is Foreshadowing for his true identity: "Rei", his real name, also means "zero".
Nietzsche Wannabe: As Dark Zero, the new Death God, his primary focus is on the destruction of the entire world.
Precocious Crush: He fell for Kurohime as a child. It took a while, though—the real Zero cottoned to her immediately, but Rei, "our" Zero, was a major jerk to her for a while.
Pure Is Not Good: Himeko cites this as the reason Zero wants to end the world. He is a problem solver and an innocent, seeing the world in black and white. By his logic, if humans cause the world's strife and the world is going down in flames in some thousand years anyway, why not just cut out the middleman and put the world out of its misery now?
Red String of Fate: Zero believes in this. He thinks it's his embodied by his scarf, and he's so attached to it because Himeko gave it to him in the first place, even though he doesn't know she did until she admits that she was the Himeko that he knew in the past.
Reincarnation Romance: Has one with Kurohime in the last chapter of the manga, where he's reborn as a woman and she's reborn as a man.
Satellite Love Interest: Lampshaded in comic by Kurohime herself when she realizes that next to his being in love with her and her with him, she knows nothing about him.
Scarf of Asskicking: He wears a long, blue-patterned one that tends to flutter around him as he does a lot of his gunslinging tricks. Even as the new Death God, he keeps a hold of it until the final chapters of the manga.
Take Over the World: Decides to do this as the new Death God. In an interesting parallel to the original Kurohime's goals, the world-takeover part isn't really his main objective—he would honestly prefer to completely destroy it.
Troubled, but Cute: Considering that he's really Rei, his life has been a total shitshow—his mother was killed by the man that "adopted" him and his younger brother after the fact, and that man physically abused him and used him as child labor. Then, his mother sacrificed her soul to restore him to normal after that foster father attempted to use Rei's Death God infection to his advantage. After that, Rei's brother died to save his life from the Death God infection again, and the one person left that unconditionally loved him wound up abandoning him twice in short order, albeit against her will.
The Atoner: "Zero" took on his brother's name in order to make up for the part that his own anger and irresponsibility played in the real Zero's death.
The Reveal: He isn't "Zero" at all; that was the name of his younger brother. He's actually "Rei", Zero's older brother that is introduced in the Past Arc.
What the Hell, Hero?: He gives Himeko one for abandoning him in the past after losing everyone he loved.
Wide-Eyed Idealist: Definitely lives, breathes, and owns the part. However, he was, at least on some level, doing it to honor the real Zero. Since becoming the nihilistic Grim Reaper hasn't dampened his belief in fated love, he may have it honestly.
Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: His emotional pain and anguish over his own life as well as the fate of the world at the hands of the gods is, as he admits to Yamatohime, the reason why he wants to destroy the world.
Yandere: As Dark Zero. Part of him loves Himeko to pieces. Another part of him wants to cut her into pieces. A lot. Occasionally, there is dissent.

Onimaru

The former leader of the Onimaru Brigade and Kurohime's former second-in-command. Before she left to become a god, she branded him with the kanji for "dog" on his back; he swore vengeance on her shortly afterward, and works to hunt down Himeko, but despite his grievances with her, he's still unable to resist her beauty.

Big Damn Heroes: All his time spent off screen after the Past Arc was him helping Kandata find people for the Sea Dragon ark.
Butt-Monkey: Amusing things happen to Onimaru. Often. This includes getting branded by Kurohime, getting beat up by Himeko whenever she breaks her curse long enough to regain her power, getting turned into a weird, mini-snake mutant, and generally finding himself in a whole lot of trouble.
Fake Ultimate Hero: His legend as the leader of the Onimaru Brigade began when he defeated a powerful member of the dangerous Mate Clan and destroyed the fearsome Lion Castle 10 years before the start of the story. However, it turns out that Kurohime and the Kurohime Punishment Squad were the real heroes, he just unintentionally cribbed their credit.
Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: He does this for Himeko in Chapter 78 after Sword changes him back into his true form, telling her to stop despairing about Zero and fight to save him instead.
Heroic Willpower: He resists becoming a snake thanks to this, but turns into a weird mini snake thing instead, gaining the nickname Tsucchi (from "Tsuchinoko").
I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Though it takes him a while, he eventually lets go of his remaining resentment toward Kurohime and encourages her to save Rei from himself as proof of her love for him.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Though he can be rough-mannered and brash, he always looks out for his men, and his experiences traveling with Himeko as Tsucchi soften him some more. He eventually becomes one of Kurohime's biggest supporters as a result of seeing her growth from the woman that abandoned him.
The Peeping Tom: He wanted to become a god in the past so that he could peep on girls.
The Smart Guy: He knows a lot of what's going on due to following Himeko around. Too bad he can't talk by the time he learns this stuff.
Team Pet: Takes on this role when he's turned into Tsucchi.
What the Hell, Hero?: Points out to Shirohime that she has strayed from her path of helping humans, and that in turn she's stagnated and lost her own sense of willpower since becoming a goddess. After he regains human form, he does this again for Kurohime, telling her to save Rei for his own sake if she truly loves him.

Asura

A fire spirit trying to rescue her master. She has deep contempt for gods and humans both, but allies with Kurohime because her power will be enough to accomplish Asura's goals.

Action Girl: Easily one of the better fighters on Team Kurohime despite her small size, second only to Kurohime herself.
Antagonistic Offspring: Asura absolutely hates her mother, and rightfully so due to the isolation and other alienating behaviors that she had to grow up under.
Because Destiny Says So: Her fate is to complete the Ultimate Sword by sacrificing herself to the Yamato Senryuutou in Yamatohime's place. She's not pleased with being born to die and keeps her resentment about it bottled up until she literally can't contain it anymore and loses control of her powers. After her mother apologizes to her with a Final First Hug and Kurohime chooses to die instead of shooting Asura and finishing the Ultimate Sword, Asura realizes that she was the only one thinking of herself as "merely" a substitute for Yamatohime, and willingly chooses to embrace her fate instead of running from it.
Broken Bird: She was born as a substitute for Yamatohime's sacrifice—should it be needed—and was raised being perfectly aware of this. She lived in an iron cage for the majority of her childhood, with similarly-fashioned toys, so that she wouldn't burn anything else down. Her own mother raised her coldly, unwilling to bond with a half-human daughter that was meant to die, and outright told her the purpose of her birth and the sacrifice she would be called on to make. That, combined with her own knowledge that humans were created to weaken the spirits and subjugate the planet, explains a lot of her bitterness when she's introduced.
Defrosting Ice Queen: Her opinion of humans raises over the course of the series, to the point she is willing to risk her life saving one. She reverts a bit while Kurohime is time-traveling, becoming a flaming ball of hatred due to her unresolved issues with her past, but Kurohime's refusal to kill Asura and finish the Ultimate Sword finishes the defrosting process.
Heroic Sacrifice: She convinces Seiryuu to send her consciousness back in time, then willingly moves her body to take the bullet that Kurohime refused to shoot at her. This absorbes her into the Yamato Senryuuto and completes the Ultimate Blade, allowing Kurohime to cut Yashahime in half.
Half-Human Hybrid: According to her mother, Asura is actually a human "blessed" with the power of Yamatohime. This is why she can serve as Yamatohime's sacrifice for the Yamato Senryuuto in Yamatohime's place, completing the Ultimate Sword without killing Yamatohime. This leads to some subtle Internalized Categorism due to her strong hatred of humans.
Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Much like her namesake, her true form has six arms.
Obi-Wan Moment: She spends a little time calmly comforting Sara, the little girl she made friends with, and assuring her that she'll live on as a spirit, before getting Seiryuu to send her consciousness back in time for her Heroic Sacrifice.
Playing with Fire: In her true form, she can fling fire around, and actively burns hotly enough to scorch flesh and bone.
Sacrificial Lion: Ultimately, she serves as one during the climax of the story, willingly offering her life in order to complete the Ultimate Sword in Yamatohime's place. By the time she dies, she's one of the few remaining members of Kurohime's friends and allies from the pre-Yamato section of the story, and the closest one she has left that hasn't become her enemy like Rei has.
The Lancer: Her eventual role in Kurohime's group, acting as the cynical, sharper foil to Himeko's optimism.
Unstoppable Rage: After Taking the Bullet for Sara and fighting against undead warriors from hell during Kurohime's time travel trip, her resentment towards her own fate and her hatred of humanity's complicity in current events drive her into a berserk state where she attacks friend and foe indiscriminately.
Vitriolic Best Buds: Develops this relationship with Kurohime over time, bickering freely with her at a moment's notice. Despite that, though, they truly become friends. This reaches the point that Asura's Heroic Sacrifice is meant to both save the world and revive Kurohime.

Other Witches

Barahime

An old rival of Kurohime's. Initially, Himeko and Zero seek her out for help breaking Himeko's curse, but they instead get into a fierce fight with her, as Kurohime stole her youth 50 years ago.

Forced Transformation: After Kurohime curses her, her true form is a rose-shaped hat. With teeth.
Grand Theft Me: She pulls this on Yuuka two times; the first time was 50 years before the start of the story, after Kurohime steals her youth. The second is so that she can avenge her defeat in the early chapters of the story, but on a far more complete level to the point that she can use Yuuka's body to fire magic bullets.
Green Thumb: She has power over plant life and uses it as her magic.
Hellish Pupils: Her eyes are slit like a cat's, indicating her malevolence. They carry over to Yuuka's body, too.
Hot Witch: Before she was cursed by Kurohime, she was a beautiful witch with with a rose motif. When she fully possesses Yuuka to join the Kurohime Punishment Squad, she gets back to this again.
Kick the Dog: Before Kurohime stole her youth, she had no compunctions luring people to her to steal their youth. On top of that, she used an innocent girl's body to prepare for her revenge on Kurohime, devouring the youth of anyone that got close to her host for 50 years. And she goes right back to stealing bodies as soon as Sword gives her the chance for revenge against Kurohime, this time actively controlling Yuuka's body completely and possessing child!Zero as a Human Shield during her fight with Himeko.
Killed Off for Real: As soon as Himeko gets the chance in their second battle, she literally rips Barahime apart.
Meaningful Name: Her name, translated from Japanese, means Rose Princess.
Powered by a Forsaken Child: She used Yuuka's beauty to lure unsuspecting men to her cottage to drain their lifeforce and fuel her immortality.
The Rival: To Kurohime, due to a bad enounter they had in the past that resulted in Barahime losing all her stolen youth.
Vain Sorceress: Her grudge against Kurohime stems from the fact that Kurohime stole her youth from her.

Kashihime

The Kyo-Kyo Witch

A grouchy witch that is terrorizing a small town.

Evil Old Folks: She's old and wizened but profoundly cruel, shattering and otherwise breaking rebellious "furniture" if it doesn't meet her needs.
Forced Transformation: She dishes this fate out to her victims, turning them into furniture.

God Clan Members

Queen Enma

The keeper of the prison dimension that Himeko is banished to before meeting Zero.

A-Cup Angst: She’s reduced to tears when Kurohime reduces her breasts to almost nothing.
Animal Motifs: Cows.
Big-Breast Pride: Very busty, very proud of it, and very unhappy when Kurohime (magically and bloodlessly) cuts them down to almost nothing.
Buxom Beauty Standard: Is called the beauty queen of the dimension she resides in, and her breasts are literally the biggest reason for it.
Constantly Lactating Cow: Always lactating, and feeds the milk to the souls in her dimension.
Cowgirl: Dresses like one in her second appearance.
Cute Monster Girl: First appears as a giant gorgeous woman with cow horns.
Giant Woman: She’s about a hundred feet tall in her first appearance, and can change her size at will.
Horned Humanoid: Has cow horns in her giantess and minotaur forms.
Meaningful Name: Shares one with Enma, the judge of the dead in Japanese Buddhism.
Ms. Fanservice: Gorgeous, busty, and loves to show it off. She also lactates and feeds her milk to people.
Our Minotaurs Are Different: Changes into one during her final attack on Kurohime.
Proud Beauty: Gorgeous, busty, and proud of both.
Shapeshifting: She changes into a dairy cow as a disguise, then later into a minotaur when attacking a temporarily-restored Kurohime.
Sizeshifting: She can also change her size from a giantess to a merely tall woman.
You're Drinking Breast Milk: She feeds her breast milk to the souls in her dimension, making them younger in the process.

Shirohime

The goddess of Love and Kindness that bears a remarkable resemblance to Kurohime.

Helpless Good Side: Played with. In terms of magical power, she and Kurohime are roughly even in power. However, lacking the aggression from her other half, Kurohime, her personality doesn't quite follow through.
Heroic Sacrifice: She dies to protect Kurohime and Zero once Tsucchi-Onimaru reminds her of the compassionate determination that she lost when she became a goddess.
Light Is Good: Dresses in all white and wields the divine White God Tree, and is probably the most benevolent god encountered in the series.
Literal Split Personality: Of the original Kurohime. She's the embodiment of that Kurohime's compassion toward humans.
Physical God: As the goddess of compassion, she fits this role.
Ms. Exposition: She briefly takes this role to explain to Onimaru what happened to Kurohime when she first fought against the gods 10 years before the story started.
Power Nullifier: Is the one responsible for doing this to Kurohime, sealing her into Himeko's form. Her death also undoes this, allowing Himeko to use her full power as Kurohime unrestricted for her fight with Darkray.
Secret Test of Character: She poses as a boy named Shin when Kurohime is first thrown into Queen Enma's hell, and uses the time to see if Kurohime is capable of feeling enough love toward someone to break her curse. Sure enough, the affection that Himeko expresses toward "Shin" is enough to temporarily break the curse not just once, but twice.

Darkray

The Grim Reaper and a High God. He commands a brigade of angels known as the Death Angels, and has a fascination with Shirohime.

Artifact of Doom: What actually turned him into the Grim Reaper: a large one-eyed skull shaped core. When Kurohime killed him, it caused the core to leave his body, and Yashahime takes possession of it and uses it to turn Zero into the Grim Reaper instead.
Beauty Is Bad: He may be handsome, but hoo, boy, he's as mean as they get. Human shields? Killing his own subordinates to strike at his opponent? Taunting and mocking his enemies as they struggle to defeat him? All in a day's work.
Dark Is Evil: He wears a dark suit, has dark hair, serves as the God of Death, and is a colossal asshole.
Dem Bones: Most of his body excluding his head.
Dirty Coward: Proves himself as this three times over: first, he uses the soul of a dead child as shield and hostage both when Kurohime confronts him before the start of the series, then repeats the tactic when Kurohime fights him ten years later by trying to hold Zero's soul hostage. After his death, his weakened, shriveled spirit then begs Yashahime to revive him.
Jerkass Gods: He doesn't give a damn about his subordinates, or anyone in particular beyond himself.
Karmic Death: Mocks love. Is ultimately laid low because of someone that states she loves him. Twice. One counts as Hoist by His Own Petard.
Kick Them While They Are Down: Uses the souls of the dead and the living as shields, mocks Kurohime and Zero, impales Kurohime, and tells his most loyal follower to her face that her love for him means absolutely nothing to him, after impaling her as well.
Killed Off for Real: Yashahime kills him herself when she finds him in the Underworld after his death, finding him pathetic.
Lack of Empathy: Again, he doesn't give a good goddamn about anyone but himself, and outright thinks of love as a weakness.
Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Can make extra arms to hold all of his weapons.
Only Known by Their Nickname: Most of the time he's referred to by title, and more rarely as Darkray. However, Yashahime addresses him as "Master Durint" shortly before killing him.
Pet the Dog: It seems even Darkray would think twice about leaving someone to Yashahime.
Tall, Dark, and Snarky: He has a very gothic, well-groomed style, is incredibly handsome, and tends to be condescendingly smug when talking to his subordinates and enemies alike.

Sword

The leader of the Death Angels and The Dragon to Darkray.

Amazon Brigade: The Death Angels are all women, and she's the one in charge of them. They're her closest friends and True Companions. She creates and personally leads a second example of this with the Kurohime Punishment Squad.
Anti-Villain: For all that she can be relatively ruthless when she's on the job, she only takes things personally when her comrades are put at risk or when someone interferes in her job. Kurohime doing the latter is what drew her ire.
Avenging the Villain: After the Death Angel Squad and Darkray both die when Kurohime decides to pick a fight with Darkray, Sword's primary driver is revenge for both Darkray and her comrades.
The Berserker: After becoming a vampire-werewolf-angel hybrid, she gains access to a powerful transformation that completely removes all her self-control when she unleashes its power.
Bodyguard Crush: She has one of these on Darkray, and dislikes Shirohime because of how interested he is in her instead of Sword.
Broken Bird: Sword's life takes a sharp turn for the worse when Kurohime winds up being responsible for the deaths of both Darkray and (indirectly) the Death Angel Squad. The trauma from these losses, coupled with Sword's projected resentment of Shirohime onto Kurohime and Darkray cruelly mocking Sword's affection for him, leaves her with a broken heart and a deep, unrelenting hatred for Kurohime.
The Captain: Sword is a capable leader when her emotions don't get the best of her, successfully heading up both the Death Angels and the Kurohime Punishment Squad later on.
Clingy Jealous Girl: She strongly disliks how much attention Darkray spends on Shirohime, and Shirohime implies that this jealousy is part of why Sword has a grudge against Kurohime:
Shirohime: In reality, you wanted to kill me instead...It must be hard on Kurohime...who became a sacrifice for your jealous heart to vent on.
Dark Action Girl: She's aggressive and confident on the battlefield, and won't hesitate to throw down with anyone in her way, especially Kurohime.
Dark Is Not Evil: With the exception of going after Kurohime, she never seemed interested in doing anything other than her job.
Enemy Mine: Has some of these moments with both past and present Kurohime separately during the Past and Final Arcs, realizing that they have mutual enemies to destroy or defend their loved ones against.
Equippable Ally: Because she can literally turn herself into a sword, she can act as this for her teammates.
Forced Transformation: Kurohime turns her into a wolf for a short period of time during the Past Arc.
Hazy-Feel Turn: Effectively works her way into one of these as the manga nears its conclusion. She doesn't "forgive" Kurohime per se, but ultimately she quits holding her grudge in such high priority since Kurohime living will help solve the more IMMEDIATE problems at the moment.
It's Personal: Though Sword already disliked Kurohime for defying the will of the gods and constantly resurrecting dead people, it becomes much more serious for her after Darkray and the rest of the Death Angel Squad all die due to Kurohime's fight with Darkray. She forms the Kurohime Punishment Squad explicitly to make sure Kurohime pays for the deaths of Darkray and the Death Angels.
Love Martyr: To Darkray. She's completely devoted to him, but he doesn't give a damn about her. In fact, he nearly killed her along with the other Death Angels when Kurohime started really going all out against him.
Meaningful Name: Guess what she can turn into. Go on, guess.
Ms. Fanservice: Her outfits tend to leave very little to the imagination, and she has a generous bust.
Our Angels Are Different: She's a Death Angel, responsible for serving Darkray, that has bat-like wings and can partially or completely turn herself into a sword. She later hybridizes herself with the powers of a vampire and a werewolf, retaining her original powers and combining her inherited strengths into a powerful berserker form.
Only Known by Their Nickname: Most other characters address her primarily as "Sword", and the Kurohime Punishment Squad tends to refer to her as Captain or Commander, but her "real" name (only revealed in author's notes) is Reikahime.
Painful Transformation: She gains one as a result of becoming a vampire werewolf. She also has Unstoppable Rage when utilizing the form.
Plucky Girl: She, Himeko, and Kurohime are similar in this regard; no matter what they go through, they refuse to ever give up.
The Power of Blood: Ingesting blood returns her to full power and her normal appearance once she becomes a vampire.
Power Dyes Your Hair: Her dark-colored hair becomes pure white once she hybridizes herself with a werewolf.
Sleep-Mode Size: After Darkray's death, she lacks the strength to maintain her normal size and appearance, shrinking her to a Fun Size child form. Once she turns into a vampire, ingesting blood allows her to grow to full size again.
Supernatural Gold Eyes: The eyepatch she wears conceals one of these, which is a mark of her vampire/werewolf powers.
True Companions: The Death Angels and the Kurohime Punishment Squad are this for her. It's losing the Death Angels that caused her to crack as stupendously as she did after Darkray's death.
Turn the Other Cheek: She admits that she will NEVER truly forgive Kurohime for everything that happened between them, but decides that if they should somehow meet in another life, they will try to get along.
Winged Humanoid: Being a Death Angel, she has bat-like wings that she can use for flight.

The Death Angel Squad

A group of five angels that serve Darkray. Their names are Axe, Mace, Hammer, Dagger and Lance, and they are led by Sword.

Amazon Brigade: They act as one for Sword and Darkray.
Chainmail Bikini: The "clothes" they wear basically only cover their genitals and a small part of their breasts.
Cute Monster Girl: They all have wings and wrought-iron claws, just like sword.
Fanservice: They're all young women with (mostly) shapely builds: Dagger looks more like a teenager and Lance resembles either a child or a preteen.
Heroic Sacrifice: For Sword, since Darkray impales the entire squad, Sword included, to counter their unwilling involvement in Kurohime's Doppelgänger Spin. They transfer all their life force to Sword so that she can live, and die as a result.
Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Darkray kills them by impaling them with bones.
Living Weapon: Like Sword, they all double as weapons; Darkray uses them when he needs to fight.
Meaningful Name: Including Sword, they're named for the weapons they turn into.
Navel-Deep Neckline: Considering they're wearing basically wrought-iron pasties, their chests are on full display.
Our Angels Are Different: They serve the God of Death and are directly referred to as "Death" Angels, after all.
Sinister Scythe: Their default melee weapons are wicked-looking scythes.
Stripperiffic: Their clothing basically consists of what looks like wrought iron ornaments that cover the literal bare minimum of what would be needed to maintain decency, and nothing else.
True Companions: They are this to each other; they never really disagree with each other too much, and their deaths break Sword's heart.
Voluntary Shapeshifter: They all have the ability to pull this off, turning into weapons that match their names in addition to having human disguises.
We Hardly Knew Ye: They don't get much characterization before Darkray kills them.
Winged Humanoid: Much like Sword, they also have black bat wings.

Yukionna (Yuki) and Yukiotoko (Yukio)

A pair of snow gods from Mt. Oosore.

Badass Adorable: Once they've been melted down to child form, they're a little less powerful, but no less dangerous for their reduced size.
Beautiful All Along: Yukiotoko—he initially appears to be very yeti-like, but actually looks like a handsome (if intensely hairy) man when using his full power.
Broken Bird: Yukionna had a lot of trouble with making friends in the past due to the strength of her powers, and is very bitter about it.
Kid-Appeal Character: They're rather enthusiastic for folks of their age bracket but are generally not bratty. Oh, and they kick large amounts of ass.
Collector of the Strange: Yuki used to collect bishounen as a hobby. Considering her own previous thoughts to do so, even Himeko comments on how creepy it is.
Cute Bruiser: After being melted into their childlike forms; they may not be 'as strong' as they used to be but they're still very dangerous.
Defrosting Ice Queen: Yuki. Aside from a literal case of it when Kurohime melted her, she becomes much more open and kind after realizing how much Yukio means to her, and her to him.
Fusion Dance: The two of them can combine to perform some rather impressive snow magic as Yuki or throw houses around as Yukio.
Heel–Face Turn: After Himeko helps Yuki notice Yukio's worth, they help her fight off Yashahime.
An Ice Person: Being snow gods, they're literally made of snow and ice.
Just the Way You Are: It takes Yuki awhile to grasp that Yukio genuinely does love her, iciness and all.
Love Makes You Evil: Yukio willingly goes along with Yuki's schemes for Himeko because he loves her. Himeko plays along to preserve his dignity.
Love Martyr: Yukio suffered this for a while—he was so devoted to Yuki that he'd do anything she asked of him, even if it meant ighting people that didn't do anything to him.
Meaningful Name: Their real names, Yuki-onna and Yuki-otoko, mean "Snow Woman" and "Snow Man," respectively.
Older Than They Look: Even before becoming childlike, Yuki and Yukio were many centuries old.
Sleep-Mode Size: Their bodies are mostly hard-impacted snow, so after Kurohime melted them using Asura, they take the form of small children. They can Fusion Dance to take on a teenaged form of whoever's in control.

Yashahime

The High Goddess of Earth and Darkray's obssesive, creepy stalker.

All Love Is Unrequited: She's deeply in love with the Death God (and quite literally that, uncaring of the actual person behind the title). Unlike everyone else who observes her behavior, she hasn't realized or chooses to ignore that the Death God doesn't like her back.
Ax-Crazy: Has to stab herself to keep from killing Himeko outright, and has a brutally animalistic temper when provoked.
Big Bad: Rises to this spot over time, as she most actively aims to destroy the Spirit Kings, kill Himeko, and devour the planet to become a High God.
Clingy Jealous Girl: She is single-mindedly fixated on Darkray and hates the idea that anyone else might feel attachment to him. Darkray once had to tell Sword not to look back at Yashahime after he declined an invitation to spend time with her, as she would have killed Sword on the spot just for being next to him.
Complexity Addiction: It's pointed out over and over that Yashahime could kill almost anyone that opposes her. Yet when faced with the prospect of doing just that to Kurohime, she has to devise some sort of scheme and draw it out, which ends with Kurohime either escaping or getting stronger. Amusingly enough, the one time she decides to just kill Kurohime would have ended with her OWN death, if it wasn't for the fact that she just doesn't die.
Dark Action Girl: Despite her refined appearance, she is a ferocious and brutal fighter that enjoys making her opponents suffer.
Dishing Out Dirt: Her primary domain is the earth, and anything related to it, including wood and trees.
The Dreaded: With the exception of Igudo (who might not HAVE emotions), the other gods and supernatural creatures react with fear when and wherever she shows up, if not complete disdain. The surviving gods write off her death and move on to another galaxy rather than avenge her.
Earth-Shattering Kaboom: Her FINAL death, via Ultimate Sword; she has become part of the planet by then and so explodes with it once Kurohime splits it apart.
Evil Counterpart: To Kurohime and Sword. Like them, she is an incredibly powerful woman empowered by her emotions. While the former is motivated by love of humanity and later Zero, and the latter is motivated by love of Darkray and her companions, Yashahime's real motivations are power-lust, obssession over the God of Death, and love of killing.
Evil Gloating: She likes to indulge in this a lot, especially when she has Kurohime on the back foot.
Evil Is Petty: It's usually not petty to want to exact vengeance for the death of one's beloved. However, Yashahime takes it to new levels; she deliberately tortures Kurohime by beating her bloody and reveling in her pain. Even Darkray himself isn't immune to this, as Yashahime kills his remnant shade because of how pathetic he became after dying, and to add insult to injury, turns Zero into the God of Death afterward, just to torment Kurohime for getting the love Yashahime never had.
Eviler than Thou: When the Grim Reaper fears YOU, you are officially a bad bitch.
Fangirl: Of the Grim Reaper. No matter WHO he is.
Game Face: She looks like a traditional Japanese ogre crossed with a tree when she decides to get serious.
Half the Man He Used to Be: Himeko uses the Ultimate Sword to split her in half. Sadly, it didn't take...the first time, anyway.
Hoist by Her Own Petard: Yashahime captures Yamatohime and links Yamatohime's powers with her own, becoming the planet itself and beginning to evolve into a High God. Because of this, though, Yashahime is now bound to the planet like Yamatohime was, meaning that if the planet goes, so does Yashahime. Once Yamatohime sacrifices herself to bring Himeko back to life as Kurohime, Kurohime uses the Ultimate Sword to split the ENTIRE PLANET IN HALF, killing Yashahime permanently.
Hypocrite: In all shapes and flavors.
- First, she killed Darkray—whom she claims to be deeply in love with, and who is the basis of her grudge against Kurohime to begin with—while holding the MacGuffin that would save his life. Why? Seeing his soul in such a wretched state breaks her cool perception of him.
- At one point, she stabbed herself to keep her from killing Kurohime and then later said that the resulting scar is Kurohime's fault.
- She once claimed that the God of Death isn't supposed to be concerned about anything or anyone, then blushed because he asked if her wounds had healed.
Implacable Man: For the sake of her vengeance and spite, she will endure literally anything without stopping; she's very, very bad at staying down for more than a few moments at any given time.
It's All About Me: Initially, she comes into the plot because Ghandara was killed, and states that she'll get her revenge on Kurohime for killing other gods. However, this is revealed to be more about satisfying her own desire to kill Kurohime for killing Darkray, and even that gets abandoned once the final chapters of the manga come around, as she's perfectly willing to abandon Dark Zero once she gets the power to become a High God and he's no longer willing to hold the mantle of Death God.
Jerkass Goddess: Yashahime is completely incapable of compassion or mercy. All she cares about is the Death God and her own power.
Karmic Death: She wants to become one with the planet and use its power for her own goals. Ultimately, she does. Just in time to get split in half with the rest of the planet when Kurohime swings the Ultimate Sword at her AND it.
Katanas Are Just Better: Her weapon is the White God Tree Sword, which she most often dual wields. She at one point grows two extra arms to quadruple-wield just to screw with Kurohime's head.
Kick Them While They Are Down: Yashahime loves to do to this to her enemies, but especially Himeko, oftentimes by stabbing her when she's already been beaten to a bloody pulp or otherwise mocking her.
Kimono Fanservice: Her outfits tend to be very un-conservatively cut kimono.
Light Is Not Good: She dresses in all white, but is the most sadistic antagonist in the series.
Loony Fan: To Darkray, and later Dark Zero. SHE'S the stronger one in both cases.
Mad Love: She has this for Darkray, stalking him everywhere and showing a dangerous interest in other women that get near him. After she kills Darkray herself, this transfers over to Zero.
Multi-Armed and Dangerous: In her true form, she can grow multiple arms to wield swords with.
Never My Fault: She refuses to take responsibility for anything she's directly responsible for, and will deflect blame on Kurohime for everything she can.
Noblewoman's Laugh: Whenever she laughs, it's one of these, though sometimes it devolves into just uncontrolled laughter in general.
Oh, Crap!:When she realizes that, yes, Kurohime really IS going to SLICE THE ENTIRE WORLD IN HALF and no, she will NOT be talked out of it.
Omnicidal Maniac: Is quite pleased when Dark Zero decides to take over the world.
One-Winged Angel: She actually has a tree-like appearance.
Planet Eater: As one of the Gods of this setting, this is quite literally the reason she exists; she's fueled by power from the earth, and eventually subsumes the whole planet in a bid to become a High God millenia ahead of schedule.
Psychopathic Manchild: Type C and D. She appears to be saintly and calm on the outside, but this masks a deep obsession with power, death, and a pointedly vicious tendency toward both violence and vengeance on those that impede her.
Selective Obliviousness: She seems to be completely incapable of thinking that the Death God is not in love with her despite saying herself that the Death God cares for no one.
Slasher Smile: Often sports wicked, unsetling grins when she's in a really good mood or is ready to cause some real havoc.
The Sociopath: She has no empathy for anyone, not even the man she claims to love, and will not hesitate to backstab, murder, or otherwise butcher her way to her goals.
Tempting Fate: Fools! I'm already one with this planet! Ultimate Sword or whatever, there's NO way to kill me!! Shortly afterward? The planet—including her—is split entirely in half.
We Can Rule Together: With the Grim Reaper, no matter who it is. NEITHER of them are interested.
When Trees Attack: Her true form is effectively a living tree person.
White Hair, Black Heart: She has white hair and at first seems like a really angry Anti-Villain before revealing herself to be the most evil creature in the manga.
Wrong Genre Savvy: Believes herself to be a Broken Bird trying to avenge her beloved's death. No, Yasha, the woman you're thinking of is Sword. Also, she assumed that Dark Zero MUST want to be a High God and rule the heavens with her. After all, why else would he just destroy the world? Because he hates the world and really DOES want nothing more than to watch it burn.
Yamato Nadeshiko: Subverted: she looks the part with the kimono, and sometimes even acts the part with a polite and calm demeanor, but she's actually a cruel and jealous brute that lives to make others suffer.
Yandere: Not necessarily a most triumphant example, but very much textbook; anyone that tries to steal Darkray's attention from her is an obstacle she intends to kill and remove. Her tendency to psychologically torture Himeko only increases after Yashahime turns Zero into the new Death God; her hatred of Kurohime becomes a twisted reflection of her jealousy that Zero is still thinking of her even as a Death God when Darkray wouldn't give her any attention.
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: When Zero finally expels the Shinigami from his body, Yashahime turns on him. Since she's YASHAHIME, no one's shocked.

Yamato Characters

Kazuma Tokugawa

The son of the shogun of Oedo. Decides to assist Hime and Asura in their quest to free the Spirit Kings after they save him from mermaids.

All Love Is Unrequited: He really likes Himeko, and actually falls in love with her eventually, but she's attached to Zero too tightly to really consider it.
Back from the Dead: After being absorbed by the Black God Tree, Himeko, restored to her full power as Kurohime after destroying Yashahime, revives him.
Badass Normal: Pray you are never on the other end of his sword.
Big Good: The remains of the forces of Oedo, plus Yuki, Yukio and Asura before she loses it are under his command so he qualifies.
The Chew Toy: In short order, he loses his father, his kingdom, and his life to protect everything he cares about.
Heroic Sacrifice: He uses the last of his lifeforce to save Himeko from Dark Zero and Yashahime.
I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: He knows he has no chance with Himeko, but does his best to assist her cause.
James Bondage: He's first introduced as a captive of a group of mermaids.
Power at a Price: The Spirit King Jewels let him use any one of the powers of the Four Spirit Kings, but each use drains more of his lifeforce.
Power Dyes Your Hair: The Spirit King Jewels eventually dye his hair white. It's closer to Disease Bleach, though, given that he's dying to power the Jewels.
Replacement Goldfish: He looks and behaves a lot like Zero. It's implied that should Kurohime lose her final memories of Zero that she could fall for Kazuma.
Royals Who Actually Do Something: When shit hits the fan in Oedo, he and his family fly into action.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To Zero, but he eventually becomes his own character.
Warrior Prince: The prince of Oedo, and a skilled fighter and strategist to boot.
You Are in Command Now: And he does fairly well, considering the situation.

Kazushi Tokugawa

Kazuma's little sister.

Delicate and Sickly: She's introduced as a sickly girl, which is why Kazuma was seeking out the merpeople so that he could get some of their flesh to cure her sickness. After a different incident involving an oni attack, she's cured of this.

Himiko, The Village Priestess

The priestess of the village where Asura was born.

Abusive Parent: She raised Asura in an iron cage with iron toys, treated her like a creature instead of a daughter, and generally isolated her from people.
Died in Your Arms Tonight: How she chooses to die once she's made up with Asura, hugging Asura and allowing Asura's flames to scorch her to ash.
Final First Hug: She deliberately allows a berserk Asura to immolate her and ends her life while hugging Asura and apologizing to her for how badly she treated her as a child.
Jerkass: Is generally cold and unfriendly, but is exceptionally so to Asura, referring to her as "it", and factually explains to Kurohime that Asura is meant to be Yamatohime's substitute sacrifice to create the Ultimate Sword. There are shades of Jerkass Façade here, as it's implied and later outright stated that she treated Asura this way to try and lessen the pain she felt about Asura's sacrifice, and she did at least care enough to make sure Asura had (iron) toys to play with as a child.
Living on Borrowed Time: Giving birth to Asura completely immolated her body below the head; the only thing still keeping her alive is Yamatohime's blessing, given that Yamatohime was the one that made it possible to give birth to Asura in the first place. Once she goes to make her peace with Asura, that blessing runs out, and she dies.

The Spirit Kings

The four kings of the spirits, scattered across the land of Yamato. By enslaving them and harnessing their powers, the gods became all powerful. They are Yamatohime, Genbu, Byakko and Seiryuu.

General Tropes

Benevolent Boss: All of the Spirit Kings react favorably to Asura, another younger spirit, and her forthright nature.
BFG: As they join their powers into Senryuu, it gets even BIGGER.
Elemental Powers: Each King is associated with a different element: fire and life for Yamatohime, water, ice, and mist for Genbu, earth and metals for Byakko, and wind space, and time for Seiryuu.
Humans Are Bastards: The humans corrupting the land and polluting it hurts the Spirit Kings like hell, and they all dislike humans because of it save perhaps Yamatohime.
Life Energy: Collectively, they are the world's life energy, especially Yamatohime. If she dies or is subsumed, the planet goes with her.
King in the Mountain: Literally in two cases (Yamatohime and Byakko are both sealed inside of mountains), and one where he kind of is the mountain (Genbu).
Pet the Dog: All four eventually come to Himeko's aid in different ways, acknowledging the depth of her feelings for Zero and wanting to support her, sometimes even before they realize what she's up to. Genbu actually doubles his moment by also helping out for the sake of Asura.
Sealed Good in a Can: All four Kings serve as this to the planet at large, as their lives sustain it.
Secret Test of Character: They each put Himeko through one of these in order to test if she's worthy of taking their power. She passes all of them.
The Four Gods: Their namesakes and mythological bases. Yamatohime is a slight variant; though she is not normally addressed as Suzaku, it is one of her alternate names.

Yamatohime

Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Though she's chained up, the spirit the gods are the most afraid of escaping is Yamatohime, and it seems everyone on her side defers to her.
Heroic Sacrifice: Seeing that even in death, Kurohime is unwilling to stop fighting against Yashahime, Yamatohime gives the last of her power and life to resurrect Kurohime for the last time.
Know When to Fold 'Em: The other reason for her Heroic Sacrifice above: knowing that there was nothing to be gained by trying to conserve her power anymore once Yashahime merged with the planet, she decieds to gamble everything on Kurohime one last time instead, giving up the planet as a lost cause in the process.
The Phoenix: Yamatohime's motif, due to being associated with both fire and life; it's mostly seen in the shape of her Flaming Hair.
Playing with Fire: Yamatohime's associated element is flame.
Sleep-Mode Size: As a result of sealing her powers even further and Yashahime's encroachment on the planet, Yamatohime shrinks into a child-like form.

Genbu

Grumpy Old Man: Genbu's personality, due to the fickleness of humans and his general distrust of them.
An Ice Person: When Kurohime manifests Genbu in Senryuu, she shoots ice dragons.
Instant Armor: Genbu's bullets can also be used to manifest thick, scaled armor. Not even Yashahime can pierce his shell.
Making a Splash: Genbu has control over water in all its form, including regular water and mist.
Turtle Island: Genbu is very literally an island-sized turtle.
Wizard Beard: Genbu's spirit form sports the long, white variant of this.

Byakko

Dishing Out Dirt: Byakko grants control over earth, but especially powerful steel, once he's incarnated into Senryuu.
Panthera Awesome: Byakko's chosen physical form is a tiger.
This Is a Drill: When Kurohime manifests Byakko in Senryuu, she shoots drill bullets.

Seiryuu

Blow You Away: Seiryuu's control over the wind amounts to this. As seen in Time Stands Still below, this can even extend further on a conceptual level.
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Seiryuu's oddly goofy for a fountain of wind power, speaking relatively casually and otherwise acting very unlike a deity.
Early-Bird Cameo: The Sea Dragon that allows time travel is the physical incarnation of Seiryuu.
Our Dragons Are Different: The Sea Dragon that he first appears as is more like a giant whale than a dragon.
Power Gives You Wings: Seiryuu sports a pair on his spirtual form as the miniaturized Sea Dragon.
Sleep-Mode Size: His spirit body is way smaller than his physical form as the Sea Dragon.
Time Stands Still: This is how Seiryuu uses wind and air, which explains his powers as the Sea Dragon; by stilling the flow of the wind, he stops time, and can reverse wind's flow to reverse time.

Kurohime Punishment Squad

A group that's gathered up to enact punishment against Kurohime for wrongs she dealt them in the past.

The Leader

After Zero's death and the subsequent loss of her team to Darkray, Sword gathers up the members of—and becomes leader of—the Kurohime Punishment Squad to take revenge on Kurohime. See Sword's folder in the God Clan section above.

The Rival

Barahime returns as a member of the Punishment Squad, completely stealing the body of her previous host to fight this time around. See Barahime's folder in the Other Witches section above.

Ouka

A member of the Kurohime Punishment Squad. She desires to take Kurohime's place as the world's most powerful witch.

Broken Bird: Due to the loss of her father as a child, Ouka is cold and standoffish, even to her allies, and is the person that is the most opposed to letting go of her grudge against Kurohime next to Sword herself.
Cold Sniper: Can shoot with a level of precision and at a range that Kurohime flatly admits she can't match. It impresses past!Kurohime as well.
Early-Bird Cameo: Ouka appears during the first arc before being introduced in the second. When Shirohime explains Kurohime's motivations, Ouka is shown attempting to stab and kill Kurohime for killing her father, and it's implied that Kurohime recognized Ouka's pain due to her own Dark and Troubled Past.
Earn Your Happy Ending: In the final chapter, the souls in the Black God Tree are all purified and resurrected, including Ouka's father.
Forced Transformation: Kurohime turns her into a kimono for a brief time, after defeating her in a magical gun duel.
Forgiveness: She ultimately decides to forgive Kurohime for killing her father, partially because she realizes she might have originally done it herself and Kurohime just chose to take the blame and partially because she realizes that Kurohime's immense self-hatred and self-punishment makes revenge pointless.
The Gunslinger: A skilled sniper and witch, and capable of handling other guns.
Heel–Face Turn: Ouka eventually gives up on her grudge against Kurohime after teaming up with her and Sword to kill the goddess Venus. As Ouka sees it, nothing they could do to Kurohime could be worse than what Kurohime's choosing to do to herself.
Hot Witch: She's able to create and use magic bullets, and is an attractive young woman.
Orphan's Ordeal: Kurohime killed her father when she was a child, and she wants revenge.
Stable Time Loop: When Ouka tries to save her father from dying in order to change the past, he attacks her, mistaking her for an enemy, and her witch-beast kills him in her defense. Her younger self sees this, and Kurohime takes the blame for killing him anyway, motivating the young Ouka to seek out Kurohime for revenge as an adult.
You Killed My Father: The source of her grudge against Kurohime: she states flat-out that Kurohime killed her father. You Can't Fight Fate comes into effect when she tries to save his life, only for Ouka's witch-beast to kill him instead of Kurohime as Ouka remembers—the narration implies that he was destined to die either way.

Saika

A former accomplice of Onimaru's, and the only man in the Kurohime Punishment Squad.

Butt-Monkey: Saika has been subjected to a number of humiliations over the course of the series; Kurohime defeats him handily, and then Aika castrates him because he's been cheating on her with other women.
The Casanova: Saika has a well-earned reputation as a playboy, and often gets the attention of women wherever he goes. Unfortunately, he forgot his girlfriend is a Clingy Jealous Girl.
Dude Looks Like a Lady: At first glance, it's easy to mistake Saika for a woman.
Groin Attack: As a result of his cavorting with Kurohime (nothing happened) and her jealous nature, Aika takes Saika's "most precious thing" from him, and won't return it until Kurohime is killed.
Love Redeems: Ultimately, Saika becomes a better person by sincerely falling in love with Aika. For a given value of better, anyway.
One-Winged Angel: Apparently all Death Gods must be male, as the Mate Clan decides to turn Saika into a Shinigami in the Past Arc. Kurohime and co. manage to turn him back though.
Pretty Boy: Saika is portrayed this way, and has women swooning over him with his good looks.
What Happened to the Mouse?: Saika disappears from the story entirely after the failed attempt to turn him into a Death God.

Aika

Saika's lover, and the final member of the Kurohime Punishment Squad.

Clingy Jealous Girl: Despite knowing Saika wasn't genuinely interested in Kurohime, Aika castrates him and joins the Squad to kill Kurohime.
Handicapped Badass: Aika. Being blind doesn't affect the fact that she's perfectly capable of taking care of herself in a fight.
Hot Witch: Aika can fire magic bullets.
Tragically Disabled Love Interest: Aika is blind. She was often accosted and attacked because of it, but compensated with her magic power. Saika counts this as a plus since she will love him even as he grows old, unlike most of the other women that he's attracted.
Tsundere: Aika is normally rather polite and well-behaved. However, she won't tolerate any cheating and her response to the "other woman" is to kill her.

Past Arc Characters

Rei

A young, angry boy from the past, and Zero's older twin brother.

Defrosting Ice King: Spends most of the Journey To The Past arc warming up to Hime. Then falling for her.
Determinator: He's willing to put up with a huge amount of abuse for his goal: Killing Doc.
Disney Death: Rei kills himself when he realizes that Zero was trying to get him to run away, not abandon him, during an invansion. Zero has Hime resurrect him so that he can sacrifice his body and soul to keep the shinigami from possessing the barely living Rei again.
Driven to Suicide: Believing that Redemption Equals Death, he tries to kill himself as penance for killing Zero.
Freudian Excuse: Saw his mother die at an early age and swore he would have his vengeance. Is angry and bitter as a result.
Half-Identical Twins: With Zero, which helps sell the Twin Switch a lot more effectively once it happens.
Hidden Depths: He seems like just a grouchy kid, but he has a surprisingly cynical worldview and obscene amounts of hatred in his heart.
Jerkass Woobie: He's a gigantic brat and a general pain in the ass, but it's clear that this is the product of his rough life, his mother's death, and Doc's abuse.
Love Epiphany: He falls in love with Hime over the course of the Past Arc, despite his resistance to her at first.
Love Hurts: And though the two of them get their happy ending, it takes a lot of fighting and misunderstanding for them to reach that point, all of it kicked off by the fact that Himeko was forced to abandon Rei at the end of the Past Arc.
Meaningful Name: "Rei," which means "soul." However, Rei can also mean "zero", which is a nice bit of foreshadowing.
My Sibling Will Live Through Me: He chooses to honor Zero's memory by taking on his name and personality.
Older Than He Looks: Rei is actually older than Zero, but all of the psychological trauma he's been through stunted his growth.
Please, Don't Leave Me: He begs his mother's revived soul to stay with him and Zero, but instead, she flings herself into a chasm so that he and Zero don't have to see the Death Angels tear her body apart. Later, when Hime returns to bring him his iconic scarf, he begs her to stay with him, but she sadly declines, given that she was only able allowed to travel back in time one last time. He brings it up the next time he sees her.
Redemption Equals Death: Realizes that past!Zero, in the last moments of his life, was trying to direct Rei from danger, not ask for his help. He then shoots himself through the stomach when he realizes he left his younger brother to die for no reason.
Sealed Evil in a Can: A piece of the Mate Clan's artificial Death God attached itself to his body. His anger eventually released it not just once, but twice, and both times someone he loved (first, his mother's revived soul, then Zero's) had to die in his place in order to make sure that Rei didn't destroy the world right then and there.
Take Up My Sword: To honor his brother's death and all he stood for, Rei resolves to become the new Zero.
Trauma Conga Line: Whoo, boy, Rei's been through it. Dead mother, abuse from his foster father, indirectly getting his mother killed again, lost his brother via Heroic Sacrifice directly because of his recklessness and rage, and being unwillingly abandoned for over 10 years by the girl he fell in love with...
Troubled, but Cute: Even as a child, he's fairly cute, but he's dealing with a lot of emotional baggage.
Twin Switch: What effectively happens when Rei decides to take up Zero's name.
You Killed My Father: Killing Doc is the only thing that keeps him going.

Doc

Zero and Rei's foster father, after their mother died. The greedy leader of the Wolf Brigade.

The Atoner: After he is killed, he becomes Kandata, the ferryman of the Styx, to try and figure out why Rei spared him. In the process, he makes up for his misdeeds by helping out Kurohime and the others, not only by giving Zero the means to rescue Kurohime from the Sanzu River, but also by turning back time to let Himeko get a second shot at saving Rei and saving almost all the humans Kurohime met on her journeys in the present day.
Big Damn Heroes: Made an ark out of his and the Sea Dragon's bones to help save the last living humans.
Early-Bird Cameo: Every time Kandata appears prior to Doc's introduction in the Past arc, we're seeing Doc.
Greed: His motive for just about everything he does. If it makes him money or gets him power, he's on it.
Karmic Death: He is killed by one of his foster sons for being a monstrous father. No, not Rei. Raida.
My God, What Have I Done?: After death, it finally hits him how horrible a person he was, especially when Rei admits to him (as Kandata) that as horrible as Doc was, there was still something likable in him.
The Power of Love: Himeko cites this as the reason why Rei spared him. Even as horrible as he was, he was still counted as a father figure to Rei, if only because Rei and Zero never KNEW their REAL father. Yup, Doc won simply by default.
Redemption Earns Life:He's revived from his form as Kandata after Yashahime is defeated, via the White God Tree.

Raida

A member of the Wolf Brigade alongside Doc, Rei and Zero.

Badass Normal: He has no powers, just natural strength and his gun-hammer, but still manages to kick incredible amounts of ass when he fights.
Big Brother Mentor: Acts as one of these to Rei and Zero.
Eyepatch of Power: When he reappears in the present-day, he's wearing one of these.
The Gunslinger: He uses regular guns in addition to his gunhammer.
In the Hood: He's wearing a hood when he leaves Doc and the Wolf Brigade behind.
Mr. Fanservice: He's tall, muscular, and wears an outfit that shows off those attributes well. Ten years later, he's grizzled, with a beard and missing an eye, but still hot.
The Ugly Guy's Hot Daughter: Doc is short and generally unattrative. Raida is tall, well-built, and handsome.

Himiko

A young girl that uses a special gun to tell people's futures via divination.

Abusive Parents: Her mother was using her as a free meal ticket, and at one point chained her up at home to keep her "safe".
Disappeared Dad: The reason why she lets her mother use her divinations to make them money.
Russian Roulette: Basically the way her predictions work. Her gun has two bullets in it, and the people coming to her for divinations have to fire it at themselves; one will let the person see the future if they're shot with it (and leave them unharmed), but the other will kill them.
Waif Prophet: Her role in the story when she's introduced, and the source of her fame. She warns Kurohime that she'll have to choose between Zero and Rei, as one of them will die very soon, and she's right. She also does this when she reappears as a young woman in the final chapters of the series, predicting Kurohime's ultimate victory.

Other Characters

Yuuka

A young woman that Himeko and Zero run into in the woods.

Cute Witch: Once she gains magic she falls into this category, having a gentle nature and keeping Barahime's rose motifs.
Damsel in Distress: She was held hostage by Barahime for 50 years, and everyone that got near her eventually had their lives and youth stolen away to fuel Barahime's life force. She's subjected to a round 2 after the Punishment Squad is formed; Barahime fully possess her, which lasts until Himeko kills Barahime.
Green Thumb: Gains plant-based magic because Barahime possessed her for 50 years.
Nice Girl: She's polite and kind to everyone she meets.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: She's the blue to Himeko's red; Yuuka is calm, pleasant and gentle to Himeko's brash selfishness and higher energy.
Sidekick: She serves as Himeko's in the Journey To The Past arc, doubling as The Conscience.
Touched by Vorlons: Gains the ability to shoot magic bullets as a result of Barahime's repeated possessions.

Kaon

An armored soldier wielding a huge sword.

Animated Armor: What he basically actually is; his desire for vengeance for his dead lord as well as the nature of his sword basically kept him alive in his armor despite being dead.
BFS: His sword is taller than him. It also doubles as an Artifact of Doom, as it's bound his soul to his armor despite the fact that he's dead.
Mighty Glacier: His armor's heavy enough that once it rusts with him in it, he can't move. However, once it's oiled up, he's lumbering but terrifyingly tough and powerful for a human soldier. Part of this is because he's already dead and his body is flat out gone, so he feels no pain anymore.

Marco Polo

An explorer that Himeko meets after being banished to Hell.

Foreshadowing: At the end of the second omake chapter where he appears, he states that he'll be traveling to other lands in the east. This sets up the pretext for why he's in Yamato by the time the story starts to wrap up.
The Bus Came Back: He reappears in the final chapters of the manga with the very same scarf that Rei's been carrying since he took on the name "Zero".

Dan

A rough soldier from the Bullet Blade Brigade and the main protagonist of the Witch Aohime sidestory. He is sent on a mission against the Majura Clan to recover their latest weapon.

Action Dad: Where he effectively lands once he accepts Aohime calling him "father".
An Arm and a Leg: He loses his broken arm while fighting off the Bullet Blade Brigade forces sent to recapture Aohime.
Badass Normal: He has no magic skills at all, but has held his own on multiple battlefields with his gun and armor, and ultimately decimated the Bullet Blade Brigade forces that came after him to reclaim Aohime with a broken arm and none of that armor.
Because You Were Nice to Me: Dan becomes so protective of Aohime because of her unfailing, unconditional kindness to him.
BFG: His gun is one, doubling as an odd sword due to the three fangs on its underside.
Blood Knight: In his own words, until he met Aohime, and largely thought of himself as a weapon that only lived to fight and take orders.
Died Standing Up: He props himself up using his gun as a cane, and gives one last smile and some gentle words to Aohime before dying.
Defector from Decadence: After seeing Aohime get thrown into a tank and hearing about how she was experimented on by his own side—compounded by her still calling out for him, her "father", while contained in said tank—Dan breaks her out and runs off with her.
Expy: He very strongly resembles a less scarred Guts in looks and personality, especially after losing his arm.
Foil: He's one to Zero: neither of them have magic power at all, and are both incredibly badass for normal people, but where Zero is a Nice Guy and all around softie that gets Kurohime to gradually become kinder, Dan is a bit of a Jerkass until Aohime defrosts him enough to get him to give a damn about something aside from fighting. Addiitonally, unlike Zero being (some degree of) younger than Kurohime, Dan is definitely older than Aohime.
Family of Choice: What Aohime ultimately winds up being to him when all's said and done, which he is finally able to admit to her as he's dying.
Guile Hero: He stays multiple steps ahead of both the Majura Clan and the Bullet Blade Brigade during his One-Man Army stand against them; first, he uses the dust cover from the cannon shot that removes his arm as well as the arm itself to fool the Brigade into thinking he's died while he uses a grappling hook to reposition himself. Then, he uses a lookalike soldier to get into a tank and instigate a fight between the Clan and the Brigade so that he can get away while they decimate each other.
Heroic Sacrifice: He fights and dies to try and buy time for Aohime to get away from the Majura Clan and the Bullet Blade Brigade.
In the Back: His fatal wound comes when he's skewered from behind by a huge crystal.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite his rough behavior and single-minded focus on fighting, he does have a softer side awakened by Aohime's love for him.
Lightning Bruiser: His armor helps facilitate this, as it's self-propelled and shaped like a bullet in such a way that he can rocket down and attack people. Even without it, he's incredibly fast and quite strong, capable of jumping incredibly high, sprinting across a field while using his sword to deflect attacks and bullets in addition to cleaving through people.
Love Redeems: Aohime's unwavering love and attachment to him changed him from a brutal, business-minded soldier to a man determined to protect the only family he has, even at the cost of his own life.
Made of Iron: He takes an absurd amount of punishment both when he retrieves Aohime (a broken arm and leg) and when he fights off the Bullet Blade Brigade members sent to retrieve her.
Meaningful Name: His name is part of the Japanese word "dangan", or bullet; fitting for someone who uses a gun and becomes the father figure of a witch, as witches primarily use guns in this setting.
Parental Substitute: To Aohime, albeit against his will (at first).
Papa Wolf: He finds himself moved into saving Aohime when he hears her calling out for him after being thrown in a tube and experimented on repeatedly. After their escape, he later spends a fair amount of time killing a good chunk of the Bullet Blade Brigade soldiers sent to retrieve her as well as the Majura Clan members looking for her.
Rasputinian Death: He's still going relatively strong even after losing his arm to a cannon shot, taking numerous wounds as a result of that shot, and actively bleeding out from the tied-off stump of his arm. He has to be literally run through by a crystal in order to die, and even then he has enough energy to get up out of Aohime's arms and prop himself up using his gun to die on his feet.
Stab the Scorpion: When it looks like he's going to shoot Aohime (for the second time in only so many minutes), Dan actually shoots an enemy behind her with his last bullet.
Would Hurt a Child: Nearly shoots Aohime twice when he thinks he won't be able to get away with her, even if in both situations he winds up not doing it.

Aohime

A young girl born from a Black God Tree and the titular character of the Witch Aohime sidestory. She is the Majura Clan's "weapon" that Dan's mission centered on.

Artificial Human: She was created as a pure magic weapon by the Majura Clan and grew out of a Black God Tree; her artificial nature shows again when she's put in a tank by the Bullet Blade Brigade's doctors and more Black God Tree branches grow around her. She also has mental conditioning protocols that made her imprint on the first person she saw, and a failsafe that would kill her if her imprinted person died.
Babies Ever After: Dan's Heroic Sacrifice enables her to get away from the Bullet Blade Brigade and the Majura Clan, and it's implied on the last page of the sidestory that she settled down somewhere with two children.
Beware the Nice Ones: Aohime herself is a kind, swet-natured girl, but she will not hesitate to do whatever it takes to protect Dan. On their first meeting, she summoned a witch beast to kill a dragon attacking her and Dan without even hesitating, then later demonstrates a willingness to fire on anyone that seems like a remote threat to Dan, actively tries to fight alongside him when the Bullet Blade Brigade targets the both of them, and ultimately kills Dan's killer herself before taking his gun and flying away.
Cold-Blooded Torture: One of the Bullet Blade Brigade's doctors implies he put her through this, saying that he tried multiple ways to break the mental conditioning that has her see Dan as her father.
Cute Witch: Qualifies as one due to her youthful looks and natural ability to make witch bullets.
Expository Hairstyle Change: She wears two ornaments in her sidelocks of hair. When she's grown older, they're gone.
Family of Choice: Mental conditioning aside, this is how she views Dan, calling him father unfailingly. This persists even after he's died and her mental conditioning is broken.
Foil: She serves as one to Kurohime: they're both powerful witch-gunslingers with white hair, but Aohime is more than capable of loving Dan unconditionally from the moment they meet, while Kurohime's curse prevents her from feeling love at all and it is Zero who accepts Kurohime unconditionally instead. Aohime is also visibly younger than Dan, while Kurohime (at least uncursed) is older than Zero.
Living Weapon: She was designed as one, and is capable of firing powerful magic bullets and creating wings to fly even without using a magic bullet.
Meaningful Name: The Ao of her name can be a reference to either the color blue or the color green, giving the meanings Blue Princess or Green Princess; green would fit the plants she's distantly associated with due to her growth from a Black God Tree, while blue fits her calm, tranquil personality.
Morality Pet: Serves as one to Dan, due to how she's single-mindedly devoted to him and how willing she is to stay by his side, whether as protection or simply because he's there. This is what eventually spurs him to take her from the Bullet Blade Brigade and flee with her.
Mystical White Hair: Though she's never shown in a color spread, it appears that her hair is pure white.
Power Gives You Wings: She demonstrates the ability to grow large, feathered wings out of her back as she descends on the mage that killed Dan, and then as she flies away from the town where Dan died.
Skilled, but Naive: Despite being an extremely powerful witch, she doesn't know anything about normal people or the real world, leaving Dan to teach her most of it; for instance, she saw people eating with utensils and nearly shot them, assuming they were using weapons.
Small Girl, Big Gun: What it looks like whenever she uses Dan's gun, but she can handle the recoil fairly well.
Tragic Keepsake: Dan's gun serves as one for her; in her new home some indeterminate amount of time after Dan's death, she's hung it up above her fireplace in memory of him.
Undying Loyalty: To Dan, as a result of being programmed to imprint on the first person she saw when she came out of the Black God Tree. When Dan dies, his final assertion to her that they're a family and that he wants her to live for herself breaks all her conditioning, but she still loves him and thinks of him as her father all the same.

Characters / Kurohime

Characters from the manga Kurohime. Per wiki policy, trope names are not in spoilers, and there may be spoilers for characters' individual plotlines in their summaries. Read at your own risk.

Main Characters

Tropes that apply to both her cursed and un-cursed selves:

Tropes that apply to pre-curse Kurohime:

Tropes that apply to post-curse Kurohime/Himeko:

Other Witches

God Clan Members

Yamato Characters

The Spirit Kings

Kurohime Punishment Squad

Past Arc Characters

Other Characters

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Characters / Kurohime

Edit Locked

Characters from the manga Kurohime. Per wiki policy, trope names are not in spoilers, and there may be spoilers for characters' individual plotlines in their summaries. Read at your own risk.

Main Characters

Tropes that apply to both her cursed and un-cursed selves:

Tropes that apply to pre-curse Kurohime:

Tropes that apply to post-curse Kurohime/Himeko:

Other Witches

God Clan Members

Yamato Characters

The Spirit Kings

Kurohime Punishment Squad

Past Arc Characters

Other Characters

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Index

Next